Mandy Shaw 'Stitch at Home' - Cottage Sewing Case

Mandy Shaw's cottage sewing case has been on my 'to make' list ever since I bought the book (at least 18 months ago) but I never seemed to get round to it, as is so often the case with my craft aspirations.  Lynda made one a few months ago and having seen it last weekend my enthusiasm was renewed to crack on.  I expected it to be complicated because of the fiddly compartments but it was a lovely project, perfect for a warm, rainy, evening indoors.  (Which is a good thing, given the weather here this week!)  It was pretty quick to make.  I started it with Season 1 of Orange Is the New Black on Thursday evening and have been sitting in my craft room at night - after dinner and dog walking - with the windows open and a scented candle on the go, contentedly blanket-stitching.  I did make a small adjustment to the pattern and used an elasticated band for the thread holder rather than the felt one described in the book.  That way, it will still hold a spool of thread as it becomes thinner with use.  

I think I need to make a few more sewing cases so that I can have one per project (I usually have a couple of sewing projects on the go at any one time) and I am inspired to have a go at designing a case myself.  I have also bought a couple of other patterns, including one by Aneela Hoey and one by Lynette Anderson.  I have been using a vintage-style chocolate tin for hexes on the go and the cottage case will make the whole project perfectly portable.  I pop my thimble in the little gingham pocket and I have everything I need.

Jake is with us this weekend.  He finished his GCSEs on Monday and I am delighted for him. He has worked hard, especially over the last few months, and deserves a long relaxing summer.  It has been lovely to see him and we have had a nice quiet weekend.  I made dinner at home on Friday evening with peach bellinis (for the adults, obvs), a selection of cheesy and cool dance music (from my gym iPod  and Harry Potter Cluedo.  Then we nipped into Cambridge for shopping and fish finger sandwiches at Bill's yesterday.  It was pouring with rain and we spent a lot of time puddle-dodging, but Cambridge is still so beautiful, even in foul weather.  We've had a lazy morning today and we're about to cosy up in the living room and watch OITNB before Jake has to go home.  I am going to continue knitting my Princess Margaret scarf as we watch.  Perfection.

Thanks for reading.  Have a happy Sunday! 

Love

Nicki 

x

Midsummer sun

Hello hello!  This is an English blog so I'll jump right in with it:  hasn't the weather been gorgeous this weekend? Beautiful and sunny. We got back from our holiday in Spain on Thursday and I had the day off on Friday so it has been the most perfect long weekend.  I am pleased to report that the husband's crops faired our absence well and his beans are flowering*.

My mum and sister decided to come and visit me on Friday so we had a day of sewing together.  (Well, until 3pm when they had to go and fetch my niece from art club.)  As usual, we spent most of the day gossiping (my sister is 35 weeks pregnant!  Arrrgggh, the excitement!!)  but I did start another lovely Japanese dress which I finished early on Friday evening.  I love that about sewing, I can make a whole item of clothing in an afternoon.  Instant gratification, perfect for impatient souls like me.

Dress C from "Sweet Dress Book" by Yoshiko Tsukiori; slubby linen with Liberty trim

I am building up quite the handmade wardrobe.  So far I've made three Lily linen dresses by Tessuti (one sleeveless), a Merchant & Mills shirt dress, M&M Factory dress, a freestyled tunic, a couple of artisan apron tunics and this.  Am feeling a real sense of achievement!  Meanwhile, crochet projects I started 2 years ago languish, untouched, in baskets around my craft room.  Oops.

Do you know Lynda from Hookin With Laalaa?  She had the loveliest craft blog and was one of my favourites.  Lynda no longer blogs but we have kept in touch via text and Instagram and finally got together yesterday for chatting and crafting.  I had such a lovely day, we have known each other via the internet for at least three years now so it was such a treat to finally meet.  We, obviously, did lots of chatting with a little bit of knitting/sewing thrown in.  We had such a fab time that Laalaa missed her train home by six hours and it was dark by the time she left.  A perfect way to spend the longest day of the year.  

As if it wasn't enough of a treat that she came to see me, Laalaa brought lots of gorgeous gifts! 

I adore Lynda's handmade stuff and I am so chuffed with this tapestry scissor fob.  I am crazy for sewing notions and trinkets, which Lynda knows, and the scissors she bought for me are cute (and sharp) too.  I am looking forward to trying the chocolate tea (one of my favourite combos**) and I am impressed with myself for still having some of the pink champagne chocs left, 12 hours later!  Laalaa also brought two packets of my favourite Toffee Crisp biscuits (in the fridge/my tummy/hidden from husb)  and a gorgeous Cath Kidston spatula (in the utensil pot).  I am a lucky girl indeed.

So, today we are chilling out at home for a bit and then off to my parents' house for a barbecue with the rest of the family.  I am considering taking some peanut butter cookies that I read about recently.  They have just three ingredients and sound delicious.  My dad loves peanut butter so the two of us will love them at least.

Have a lovely Sunday, whatever you're up to.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Love

Nicki 

x

*not prison slang

**I have become obsessed with pondering my favourite combos lately.  Let's discuss sometime soon.

Homemade labels for your handmade pretties

I have always loved the paraphernalia that comes with taking up a hobby.  As a child my great-grandmother taught me to embroider and I kept a beautiful sewing box with all of my embroidery floss and patterns stored nicely stored inside.  As a teenager, I chose to study art and loved collecting the tools of the trade; the pencils, paints and technical drawing pens for my creations.

This year I have fallen for sewing again in a big way and have found that there are never-ending ways in which to stock up on supplies.  I love it.  Glass-headed pins, safety pins, sharps needles, quilting needles, gold eye needles, pretty (and functional) scissors... sigh... I love it all.  And don't get me started on the fabric.  (I am currently amidst a very intense stash-building mission and I take my missions very seriously.)  I seem to have developed a particular passion for pin cushions, needle cases and embroidery scissors.  I had been wanting to make some needle cases for a while and decided to make a couple as Christmas gifts for the lovely crafty folk in my life.  I made two and packaged both of them up to be opened on Christmas Day.  I was delighted with the results but started to wish that I'd made one for myself.  It was niggling at me all over Christmas and yesterday I decided to just blinking make one.  Just for me. 

Red is my favourite colour and so, unsurprisingly, I have lots of red/pink mix fabrics in my scrap stash and I found a few odd bits that were the perfect size to make these needle cases.  The pattern is from A Passion for Quilting (great book - you *need* it).  You basically just cut a piece of base fabric to size and then piece together the fabric scraps, attaching them to the base fabric, one by one (I think the method is called Foundation Piecing but please correct me below if I'm wrong).  

Inspired by another pattern in one of my other [many] patchwork books, I made a little label for the front.  

Despite being a stickler for proper grammar, I do love to make labels without a capital letter in sight.  Feels rebellious.

I bought some printable cotton from Amazon and set about designing some labels in Word.  I used the auto format for address labels because I knew that I wanted to make some very small labels and [at £12 for 5 sheets] I wanted to be sure to use every inch of space on the fabric that I possibly could!  I did a test run on regular A4 paper and when I was happy I printed straight to the fabric.  It's basically a thin cotton fabric attached to a thin sheet of card.  I have an ordinary Hewlett Packard inkjet printer and it worked perfectly.  When you've given the ink a few minutes to dry you just peel the backing from the fabric and cut each piece to size.  Easy peasy.  It is, of course, possible to print onto other fabric that you baste to a piece of card and I totally plan to give that a whirl some other time.  It would be cheaper but, more importantly, give way to even more options for the finished item.

I began by making some gifts for Izzie's teachers.  I made lavender hearts for them from Christmassy fabric and sewed on labels saying 'Happy Christmas, love from Izzie x' on them.  I printed a few of these labels at the same time and so I still have some for next year if I need them.  Whilst printing, I fiddled around with fonts and sizing to get the exact look I was after.  The beauty of preparing them on your own computer means that you can print them in any colour, size or style that your heart may desire! I know that some people use the fabric for printing photographs and using that fabric for personalised cushions.  The possibilities are endless!  I like the simplicity of an old-fashioned typewriter font (I mostly used American Typewriter or Courier) and made lots of different sized 'homebird' labels for future projects.  I couldn't resist it and attached one on the back of my needle case... 

I should point out here that I attended a Julie Arkell brooch-making class at the beginning of September and my makes to date have been very much inspired by her.  This needle case is made from a selection of new and vintage fabrics and is supposed to be a bit scruffy and scrappy-looking.  Honest!  The vintage fabrics have the odd perforation where they were previously sewn and you can just see from this picture that the fabric with the basket of roses has a small scuff at the very top.  I like it this way and tried to sew the labels roughly so that it has a 'loved' appearance rather than seeming brand spanking new.  

I gave them as gifts with a selection of cute pins that I sourced on Facebook and Etsy.  They aren't especially practical but are very pretty and there's a little room in all of our lives for beautiful but useless things I reckon. 

Pretty pins from Teeny Tiny Vintage; find her on Facebook

My beloved Jessie Chorley pin cushion bought at the Selvedge Winter Fair, home for pretty beaded pins from Etsy.

I love the printed fabric that Jessie Chorley uses for her creations and I am going to try printing some vintage labels onto fabric to achieve a similar look.  Hope Jessie doesn't mind.  (I'm going to one of her classes at Hope & Elvis in June so I will run it past her then.  Ha!)

For Christmas, I asked Santa for an oilskin sewing roll from Merchant & Mills that I had been coveting for, like, ever.

I must have been good because there it was, lovingly wrapped, under the tree on Christmas Day.  I think it is my favourite gift.  I love it (*said with clenched teeth and fists*).  It is so beautifully utilitarian (almost an oxymoron).  So tactile and so old-fashioned.  

It came filled with a tape measure, wide bow scissors, a selection of needles and a box of pins.  I have bought lots from Merchant & Mills here and there.  I love their styling and, although a bit spenny, their products are really well made.  You definitely get what you pay for. 

This sewing roll has ignited a burning desire for an apron in the same oilskin with big tradesman-style pockets.  And maybe I ought to wear some small half-moon wire-rimmed glasses.  Like Gepetto, but a seamstress, not a carpenter.  Yes, that's exactly the look I'm after.  I've always loved Gepetto.

Nicki 

x